1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hand-held electronics devices and, more specifically, to a charging and use scheme for a hand-held electronics device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital video camera (DVC) technology has developed rapidly over the past decade. A broad variety of DVCs are now available to meet the diverse needs of a wide spectrum of consumers. DVCs enable users to record video and audio clips and enable users to transfer the recorded video and audio data to a computer-readable medium through some form of connector that couples the DVC to a computer. The computer-readable medium may be, for example, a Digital Video Disc (DVD) or a computer memory. Once video and audio data is transferred to the computer memory, the user can modify or edit the video and audio data using conventional editing software.
One problem often encountered by DVC users involves maintaining the charge level of the DVC battery. As is known, most conventional DVCs operate using battery power, which is supplied by a non-removable rechargeable battery or by one or more removable, replaceable, and/or rechargeable batteries. Battery-powered DVCs may operate normally for several hours, but eventually the battery power drains, and the DVC powers off. With some designs, to recharge the DVC, a user typically has to plug the DVC into an external power source, such as an AC outlet. However, if an AC outlet is not readily available, or if the user does not have a power cord that can couple the DVC to the AC outlet, then the DVC battery cannot be recharged, and the user cannot record video or audio clips or otherwise use the DVC.
Other designs allow the DVC to be recharged through the data port of a computer system, such as a USB port of a laptop computer. However, these designs typically do not allow the user to interact with the data files stored on the DVC in any type of sophisticated fashion while the DVC is charging. As used herein, “interacting” includes accessing the data files when requested by the user and performing operations other than simple playing back or copy operations. Interacting with data files, includes, without limitation, editing the data files, merging the data files, uploading the data files to a server machine and/or deleting data files. For example, prior art DVC designs, and similar prior art mp3 player designs, only offer the options of playing back a video file or song stored on the device or streaming the video file or song on the computer system to which the device is connected. No other more sophisticated types of interactions are permitted. Thus, when a conventional DVC or other hand-held electronic device is connected a USB port and charging, the user is quite limited in the types of operations he/she can perform on the data stored on the DVC or other hand-held electronics device.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for more flexible, user-oriented charging scheme for DVCs.